Resistance and/or aerobic training have been shown to be important for the prevention and management of sarcopenia in older adults. Similarly, nutritional supplementation is essential to counteract the detrimental age-related effects on skeletal muscle. Yamada and colleagues aimed to assess changes in physical performance and muscle mass in frail older adults when adding a nutritional supplementation program (including vitamin D and proteins) to an existing resistance training program.

A total of 70 individuals completed the 3-month intervention, half of which were randomized to an exercise plus supplementation group and the other half of which remained on exercise alone. At pre-intervention, the prevalence of sarcopenia, defined as low skeletal muscle mass index and low walking speed, was 65.7% in the exercise/supplementation group and 68.6% in the exercise alone group. At post-intervention, sarcopenia prevalence was 42.9% and 68.6% in the exercise/supplementation and exercise alone groups, respectively. Relative risk was calculated to be 1.60 (95% CI, 1.03-2.49), a significant benefit favoring the exercise plus supplementation group. The authors advocate for frailty prevention programs aimed at reducing sarcopenia in older adults through a combination of resistance training and nutritional supplementation.